Bad Real Estate Photos: Not Just For "Cheap Homes"

Lately I've been working with a large number of buyers. This translates into hours upon hours of looking through hundreds of homes - and their photos. Now, we all know there are tons of bad real estate photos out there. But what I don't understand is why sellers put up with them? Surely the owners of these homes realize the photos their agent took are terrible. One would also think bad photos simply won't be acceptable for high-end homes, right? (See the two listings below for the answer.)

I spend several hours taking professional photos of every single one of my listings, regardless of the list price. I even have special computer software that I use to process the photos and touch them up as needed. I do this because I understand the power photos have when attracting potential buyers. Yet for some reason there are still agents out there - and their sellers - who don't seem to get this. Here are some examples. Enjoy!

7225 Turtle Creek Blvd. - $2,295,000

Loving the Casa Magnetica angle.

Kitchen is "light and bright."

More beautiful side yard. Comes complete with water hose.

We're uncertain what this photo is supposed to show us.

BAD REAL ESTATE PHOTOS BONUS: 4223 Bordeaux - $7,450,000

You would think a $7,450,000 home would have a little more, I don't know, pizazz! in the photos. Someone PLEASE help me understand how this is acceptable.

Agent to Meet? Or Not to Meet? That is the Question.

I've been showing homes to an out of town couple around the $2 million price point over the past few weeks. Each time we view approximately 6 to 8 homes. I give at least 24 hours notice as most of these properties are "agent to meet"...the last thing any Realtor wants to see in the showing instructions section for any listing. I'm not exaggerating when I say at least 5 of the agents attempt to reschedule the 30 minute time frame I give them because they "can't make it at the time we've requested".

On the surface that sounds fair but you have to look at it from a buyer's point of view - and their agent's. When you're looking at 8 homes from Russwood Acres to Jan-Mar to Bluffview to Greenway Parks to UP/HP the listing agents should be THRILLED that I only gave them a 30 minute time frame. Let me give you an example you probably won't care much about. And that's ok. This is my own form of therapy time so let me have it, dammit! :)

You have to have a starting point so let's pick Jan-Mar (Royal and Hillcrest) at 11am. From there we're heading to Russwood Acres (Royal and Midway). Then down to Bluffview and Greenway Parks. And shoot across the toll road to the Park Cities. We'll probably end around 2pm.

But...The first agent can only meet me at 1pm so we'll need to reschedule that one. But then what about the other home in Jan-Mar we just scheduled with the other listing agent for 11:30am? I guess we can move her to 1:30pm.

And then...The second agent can't do 1:30pm because she has a massage appointment.

And then...Both of the Russwood Acres homes we want to see are having an Open House from 2pm to 4pm so it would be nice if we could reschedule our times to view the homes at that time instead of from 12pm to 1pm.

So now...I have to call the Greenway Parks listing agents and the Park Cities agents to reschedule with them and hope they can make the new appointment time after they've probably already made plans.

You see what I'm getting at. It's a pain in the arse and we typically have to cancel at least 2 of the homes on our orginal list because the agents can't meet us to show the home.

I am not, nor have I ever been, a fan of "agent to meet" showings. They are pointless and my buyers find the listing agents more distracting than helpful as they prattle on about how "special" their listing is while following us from room to room.

In my opinion, no home in the Park Cities or Preston Hollow areas under $3 million is special enough to require a Realtor's presence at the home when it is being shown. If you want to brag about the special features of your listing then open up Microsoft Word and prove it by placing an information sheet in the home. You running your yapper and rattling off the 1,000 special things about this home is lost on every buyer that walks through the front door. I don't care if Lambert's did the lawn or the guy standing by the DART bus stop. If it looks nice then it looks nice. That is not a special feature of any home.

The saddest and most important part of all this is that sellers of these homes will never know someone tried to show their $1.8 million dollar home. No wonder it has been on the market for 178 days. I mean seriously, do you think the listing agent will tell their sellers they couldn't make the showing because they were too busy? I didn't think so.

Ridiculous.

Top 10 Things That Will Sell Your Home in Today's Market

1. Price your home competitively.

2. Get an inspection before you put your home on the market.

3. Make repairs that show up on the inspection report.

4. Put oversized, ugly and unnecessary furniture in storage.

5. Landscape your front and back yard. This is the number one money maker and is the most ignored.

6. Paint over your Trading Spaces purple faux paint job, circa 1999.

7. Hire a Realtor that knows what the hell they're doing. Ask how many homes they have sold in the last 12 months, average days on market, average list to sales price ratio, what is their marketing strategy? If they can't answer any of these then you need to call me ASAP.

8. Hire a Realtor that knows how to exploit the internet when exposing your home to internet buyers and also knows how to capture those leads so they can follow up. During the interview, ask the Realtor if their listings will show up on other real estate company websites. If they don't know the answer then you need to call me ASAP.

9. Did I mention pricing your home competitively?

10. Hire Jeff Duffey. Yeah. I said it. There's not enough shameless promotion on my blog.

How To Sell Your House in Today's Market

I taught a class yesterday morning which prompted a nice little debate between a newer agent and myself. I was explaining the importance of pricing listings in today's market. My platform was basically if your home is not priced competitively in the beginning, which means sometimes pricing it lower than the competition to make it look attractive to buyers, then plan on being on the market a long time. She said she has a listing that is priced correctly but is still not selling. This listing has been reduced 3 times and has been on the market for over 6 months. She says that the home is priced right and is in line with the other homes currently on the market. I told her it's obvious the market is telling her the asking price is still too high. She responded with, "But the other other homes are priced just as high as well." My response, "And they're not selling either so you need to drop the price to where buyers will perceive your listing as valuable." This new agent asked if we are truly representing our clients' best interests if we recommend a "low price" just to get the home sold. That's a great point and here is my answer. If an agent does their research and can accurately communicate market stats with their client then a real asking price will present itself and that price might be lower than what they are wanting for the home. But remember the goal is the sell the home for the highest price in the quickest amount of time. For example, if there are 5 similar homes on the market priced from $230K to $265K and they are comparable to your home and you want to get $275K for yours what is your initial reaction? They have no chance. If it's priced any higher than $249,000 then that listing is probably going to be on the market for a while. This is the Realtor's job to explain to their clients this is not a time to test the market. Buyers are tentative to pay market value for a home much less overpay. And if a home has been on the market for 8 months vs. 30 days which home will probably get closer to their asking price? This is what Realtors need to be telling their sellers.

If a buyer does not see your asking price as a good value they will simply pass it buy without a second look. I don't care if you have the nicest updates in the neighborhood. If you are not priced correctly they will not "make an offer". This is the hardest thing for sellers to understand. They say to themselves, "Yeah I know we're priced a little high but we want some room for negotiations. Why don't they just make an offer?" I know this sounds familiar to many of you. So what's the answer? Why don't buyers just "make an offer"? The answer is because they are smarter than sellers give them credit for. They haven't just seen your home. They've probably seen 15 to 20 homes in your general area and your home is being judged just as harshly as the others. If most of the homes in your area are selling around $250,000 and you are priced at $275,000 or $299,000 then buyers see you as an unrealistic seller and why waste their time?

This article reiterates this new philosophy in pricing your home to maximize dollar value and minimize time on the market.

“I show them the neighborhood and we look at what other houses are for sale,” said Page, a Realtor for REMAX Property Source in Rockford. “Then we would sit down and look at the prices those homes are listed for and I’d tell them, ‘Yours has to be better.'...With so many houses on the market, you have to price it aggressively so that yours is the one that jumps out at them.”

So make sure your Realtor shows you in depth sales statistics for your neighborhood and also make sure you're not the highest priced house in the neighborhood unless you are willing to have your house on the market for the long term. But in the end you won't sell your home for what you might have sold it for had you priced it right in the beginning.